However, in my experience, the use of proprietary accounting software can have some drawbacks for new and smaller businesses.

Many years ago, there was only one real choice, your bookkeeping records were kept manually with Cash Books and Ledgers to help you organise records. Even today many small businesses still use handwritten records even though they can take up a significant amount of your business time and it is very easy to make errors.
Accounting Templates

All of this and anything else you can think of as a potential cost should be included on the spreadsheet so youll have some idea of what youre going to spend before you have to spend it. As each month passes, simply update the spreadsheet to reflect actual costs.